Ballymena

[Ablondiebutagoody]

AIBU to think that this kind of unrest/attack is happening more frequently now? Or did I just not notice before?

NBU - Yes, it's more frequent
ABU - You didn't notice before

I never said it was backwards, or that Irish people aren't well travelled? Stepping back in time just means that places haven't changed much over the years. My MIL left her village in Ireland at 19, and is now nearly 80, and says its like she has never been away every time she goes back. That's not a negative, many people like that it has stayed the same.

Then why did you agree with this:

Ime NI really is incredibly backwards once you get away from the obvious tourist areas.

wrt Ballymena, and other places with a large loyalist populations, the drug gang factor has to be kept in mind. Non-locals, whether that means Catholics born three miles away, people from RoI or GB, or people from elsewhere in the world, are going to be outside of the societal control of the gang leaders, so they have to be moved out. Presumably the giant territory-marking bonfires are already being built, with the most dangerous work reserved for people the gangs think owe them something.

Partly a result of not just failure of policing over 50 years, but also of a deliberate policy of policing and nurturing divisions. I feel very sorry for outsiders moved into dangerous areas, I feel very very sorry for decent locals who don't want to live in communities controlled by thugs.

Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not on social media 🙄

More 'protests' tonight, all loyalist areas.

People have had enough.

Enough of what? Not rape, because they normally don't give a shit. Not any other kind of sexual assault, precious little was said about Jeffrey Donaldson. What have they had enough of that they're using rape as a vehicle to express?

Their communities becoming unrecognisable by infinite levels of immigration.

Petrol bombing those people - people who are part of the community, like or not - will achieve what? What do they even want to achieve? And why are they using a rape as the vehicle for it?

'People have had enough' is no justification or explanation, it's a bullshit soundbite, let's face it.

Not condoning it. Just saying it's a reality. People have continually voted for lower immigration and just get more and higher levels. When you've exhausted all democratic means and are still ignored then civil unrest is inevitable

Is their trauma in Romania? Are they at war?

Yeah. That would explain why they smashed in the windows of the white British woman interviewed in the Irish Times. Obviously being English isn't British enough.

As usual, it's worth reading Slugger for the comments and the articles.

https://sluggerotoole.com/2025/06/10/riots-in-ballymena-following-anti-immigration-protest/

https://sluggerotoole.com/2025/06/11/second-night-of-mindless-violence/

Oh good, we needed more bigoted stereotyping on this thread!

The Troubles haven't really gone away you know.

Any country with that kind of history, i.e. violence against either Protestant/Loyalist or Catholic/Nationalist has to leave big scars and perhaps a residue of a culture of sectarianism.

Maybe the lid is coming off something that has been largely quiet and perhaps suppressed since the Good Friday Agreement. It seems to be blowing up again now against "foreigners" instead of against the political/religious affiliations of the other side.

FWIW I think NI is a bit of a basket case. The vast majority of whatever jobs that exist are public sector. There is on the surface anyway in the larger towns and cities a lovely welcoming and very friendly people, however any city that needs a massive hulk of a Berlin type Peace Wall down its centre to separate the factions will not have a happy history or future. That, my friends is Belfast, and who would believe that in this day and age, but it's real.

And sure aren’t they burning Larne Leisure Centre down as I type.

I despair.

God bless anyone there. I think we need the army at this point.

The rioting might very well spread further now. Marching season approaches also.

Back to the future if the army is called in. I shudder to think of the reaction to that. I believe the army would be considered to be OK to Loyalists, but if the violence spreads to Nationalist areas, well it doesn't bear thinking about the consequences for everyone.

Has there been any statement or comment from First Minister O'Neill yet? Can you imagine the diplomacy needed from her side of the fence about this? Even though she represents both sides, of course.

Ballymena is not a small town. It’s a town with a fair lot of union jacks on display. It can in no way be compared with a small old fashioned place in the Republic of Ireland where life has trundled along softly for years.

Northern Ireland is the least diverse region of the UK. just over 6% of the population were born out if the UK.

So it doesn’t really make sense. There are deeper things at play, immigrants just get the blame.

NI thugs are always settling things on fire while enjoying a street riot.
It's their method of violence.
From cross community fighting to terrorising foreigners.
Certain parts are extremely racist towards anyones who isn't British.

https://m.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/uda-vows-to-keep-up-attacks-on-catholic-homes-in-new-housing-development/a444709073.html

However, when we are paying costs to convict immigrants instead of just deporting them back and getting their home country to foot the bill, thats where I have the problem.

On what basis are you going to decide to deport them, if not on the basis of a conviction in court? Do you think that people should be deported on the basis of someone just calling the police and saying "X attacked me"?

On conviction

Ah. Maybe you meant "when we are paying* costs to keep them in prison*" in your previous post? Because you wrote "convict" in your comment that I quoted. 🙏

Anyway, the difficulty with just deporting people like that is that you need a deal with their home country that ensure they will actually serve jail time. Getting deported is not a particularly huge deterrent to committing a crime that would get 10 years or more for a local citizen. This would probably have to be a bilateral treaty, because even if there was an EU-wide agreement (I don't think there is), it would all have been torn up by you-know-what.